Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

A People-centred Perspective on Climate Change, Environmental Stress, and Livelihood Resilience in Bangladesh

Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson
United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn, Germany and University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

Kees van der Geest
United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn, Germany

Istiakh Ahmed
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Saleemul Huq
International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Koko Warner
United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn, Germany

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The Ganges–Brahmaputra delta enables Bangladesh to sustain a dense population, but it also exposes people to natural hazards. This article presents findings from the Gibika project, which researches livelihood resilience in seven study sites across Bangladesh. This study aims to understand how people in the study sites build resilience against environmental stresses, such as cyclones, floods, riverbank erosion, and drought, and in what ways their strategies sometimes fail. The article applies a new methodology for studying people’s decision-making in risk-prone environments: the personal Livelihood History interviews (N = 28). The findings show how environmental stress, shocks, and disturbances affect people’s livelihood resilience and why adaptation measures can be unsuccessful. Floods, riverbank erosion, and droughts cause damage to agricultural lands, crops, houses, and properties. People manage to adapt by modifying their agricultural practices, switching to alternative livelihoods, or using migration as an adaptive strategy. In the coastal study sites, cyclones are a severe hazard. The study reveals that when a cyclone approaches, people sometimes choose not to evacuate: they put their lives at risk to protect their livelihoods and properties. Future policy and adaptation planning must use lessons learned from people currently facing environmental stress and shocks.

Keywords: Livelihood resilience, Climate change, Adaptation, Natural disasters, People-centred research

Location: In Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Commodity: Climate change, Livelihood

Objectives:

The objective was to include the three principal stress clusters affecting the country:
• Cyclones on the coast.
• River bank erosion in flood plains.
• Drought in water-stressed areas in North-Western Bangladesh.

Methodology:

The fieldwork focused on understanding the diverse impacts of environmental stress on livelihood resilience. In addition, it included a participatory assessment of the effectiveness of the past and present adaptation policy and projects in the study sites. The qualitative method used in this article, livelihood histories (LH), is individual life histories that focus on changes in people’s livelihoods (Van der Geest 2004). A livelihood perspective in development research and practice enhances understanding of the complexity of rural development. The LHs address a common critique of livelihood research: that it tends to be a-historical (De Haan and Zoomers 2005). Reconstructing changes in people’s livelihoods over time, using semi-structured interviews, allows a unique and dynamic view of how environmental stressors and shocks affected people; how they coped with immediate consequences; how they tried to recover; whether they were successful; and what the barriers to full recovery were. Twenty-eight LHs in total, four in each study site were reconstructed. A gender, age, and class balance were maintained in the selection of informants. To ensure that the research findings identified potential gender differences half of the 28 informants were men and half women. The youngest informant was in his 20s and the oldest in her late 70s. As the Livelihood History interviews aimed to capture livelihood changes over time, older informants were intentionally oversampled. Before the interview, informants were given a general description of the project and the aims and intended use of the research findings was clarified. The interviews took 3–5 h each, and the interview sessions were spread out over 2–3 days to avoid response fatigue. The researchers faced some minor challenges with informants dropping out due to livelihood activities and time constraints. This journal article presents a qualitative, people-centered, research approach achieved through the LH interviews. The objective is that such an approach will move the focus back to peoples’ adaptation strategies and the constraints they face when confronting environmental stress and shocks. Individual’s conceptual understanding of the causes and meanings of events is crucial within anthropology, philosophy, sociology, behaviour economy, and social psychology (Callahan and Elliott 1996; Patt and Schro¨ter 2008; Patt and Schrag 2003). The LH approach helps present clear insights in how people communicate meaning and understand specific events.

Source of Information: Sustain Sci (2016) 11:679–694

Article Link (Online Journal): DOI 10.1007/s11625-016-0379-z

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Bangladesh is in the middle of the world’s largest delta. The delta-based ecosystem nourishes a dense population, but it comes with a wide variety of climatic and environmental stresses, such as cyclones, floods, saline intrusion, waterlogging, sea-level rise, land loss, and riverbank erosion. Droughts and landslides are additional problems that occasionally cause havoc in parts of the country. Among the most vulnerable people in the world are the ones depending on sensitive ecosystems and their providing services. Adaptation strategies, such as agricultural change, livelihood diversification, and migration, can be ways to enhance livelihood resilience. This article argues for the enhancement of global policy frameworks for protecting vulnerable populations against future climate change impacts using a people-centered approach that analyses local experiences with adaptation strategies and constraints. Lessons have already been learned and continue to be learned every day. People-centered case studies, such as the Gibika project in Bangladesh, provide valuable research examples on what people need to increase their livelihood resilience. Furthermore, such case studies help enhance understanding of why people’s adaptation strategies sometimes work and sometimes fail, where the gaps are and how to address them. Future research should include a more people-centered approach focused on the effectiveness of autonomous and planned adaptation measures.

Knowledge Management: Journal